Duke, a pitbull who has been confined in a shelter for four years while his owners fought a euthanasia decree, gained his freedom this week.
Well, most of his freedom: According to the ruling by the Appellate Division of New Yokr State Supreme Court, the red-nosed pit must be in "permanent, secure confinement" at his home.
Duke's legal travails resulted from a tussle with a neighbor's dog in December 2003, after which he was labelled a "dangerous dog." Duke was allegedly loose in February 2004, when the neighbor again accused him of attacking his dogs, and he was ordered euthanized.
The court found that the dangerous-dog statute in place at the time did not provide that one dog attacking another was conduct subject to the penalty of destruction, and that there was no evidence that Duke had ever threatened a human.
Comments (34)
Yeah! I am so happy for Denise and their family! I am confident that all that hard work and dedication paid off!
Man, I wish I could kiss that face of his, too!!! What a handsome boy he is. I hope Denise takes lots of pictures of Duke leaving the shelter and heading for home. GO DUKE-FREE AT LAST!!!!!
YESSSSSSSSSSS DUKE! HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.
WE LOVE YOU LITTLE MAN! XOXOXO
Hooray!!! That picture is priceless. Give Duke plenty of hugs and kisses from me, Denise. The wheels of justice finally gave this cutie the best Christmas present. Going home to be with his family. I can't wait to see those pictures.
How I praise Jesus and our Daddy God. All things are possible. You ladies have worked so hard to save so many. God bless each and every one of you! As we continue the journey that you have sent us to travel, Daddy God, give each of us your strength, your endurance, your wisdom and guidance. Hold us all in your tender care, keep your victories coming for all the world to see and bring little Vivi home safe and sound. We need you with every step we take and every breath we breathe. How we praise you!!! In Jesus's Name..Amen!
Hey everyone. Great news for Duke. Monica and I will be at the shelter tomorrow when Duke gets released, last time we saw him was in his jail cell there, we will give him kisses from everyone who worked so hard to save him. We will definately have our cameras for that Kodak moment, press conference will be at 1pm, media will be there so I am sure it will be on the 5 and 6pm news tomorrow night, keep an eye out for our boy getting his freedom. What a long journey this has been.
Merry Christmas Duke!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To the Appellate Division of New Yokr State Supreme Court:
2 thumbs up!!
Just read the updates. I don't know why I am crying - don't know if it is the beautiful prayer from Betty/Michael with so much truth in it, that face Susan spoke of, the thought of Debbie and Monica giving this big guy kisses and hugs for us, or just cause I am a "mush," but crying like a baby. Thank God the door to my office is closed!
And to quote Betty/Michael, Heavenly Father, "We need you with every step we take and every breath we breathe. How we praise you!!! In Jesus's Name..Amen!"
YAY!!! Duke is a beautiful dog and is back where he belongs. Congrats!!!
Kathleen - you are a "mush" like the rest of us. At least you have a door to close. If I start getting misty- eyed, I have to make a mad dash to the bathroom. I have no office door to close. :)
Oh, Duke should be on his way home now!!! I cannot wait to see pics of this beautiful boy and hear about his first day home in years!!!!
Debbie and Monica, please let us know how his release from the shelter went! Lots of tears and hugs and kisses to the Big Boy!!!!
PAM - Oh, I would be in so much trouble crying if I could not close my door. One day I am going to short out this keyboard being "mushy."
MILA - I thought he was being released tomorrow. I hope it IS tonight. One less day for that poor boy to be away from his family!
Darlene should be there with weenies and beer to greet him too. I hope Jose is not there to scare the poor boy....
DUKE IS FREED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Duke was released today from his 4 year jail cell at 1pm. We were there to see him come thru the door into freedom, Monica and I were bawling boobs even before he got out, we said the media is going to ask "who are those 2 idiots crying by the door"
It felt like Duke was a celebrity with all the media rushing in to get photos.
We got great photos of him walking thru the door to getting kisses from him. Finally we got to hug our big boy after all this time of seeing photos and it was well worth it.
Duke has a filet mignon that was given to him for dinner tonight. News 12 already ran it and wb11news will be running it at 10pm
What a way to start the weekend. Yeah Duke
Yippppeeeeeee!!! Duke is home at last! What a celebration that will be!! And you will share those glorious pictures, won't you!!!???
Debbie, when the court docs said confined to a crate indoors, what does that mean? Surely not all the time? Maybe only when company comes?
AT LAST, OUR BOY IS FREE! DEBBIE THE BOOB CALLED ME TODAY AFTER SEEING DUKE, KISSING AND HUGGING HIM AND BEING WITH HIM........SHE AND MONIKER HAD A TEAR FEST THEY WERE SOOOOO HAPPY TO SEE THE LITTLE GUY, FINALLY RELEASED. I HOPE TO SEE HIM ON THE CALIFORNIA NEWS!
JOY, JOY, HAPPY, HAPPY! OUR BOY IS HOME....(UH, HE IS NO LONGER JUST BELONGS TO THE MENDENZEZ FAMIL, WE ALL FEEL HE'S OURS TOO! GOD BLESS THAT SWEET DOG!
Hey Mila and Rooobbyy, yes Ma I had to call you since we cried many tears the past year with Duke on the phone.
Mila Duke does not have to be confined to a crate when indoors, he has to wear a muzzle and have a leash on if he is in public walking down the street or be in his pen in the yard which is ok.
So he has the roam of the house to do what he wants, it's really no different, he just needs a muzzle if walking and I'm sure he will not be out that much, my dog goes out does her thing and comes back in.
I have a hard time attaching the file to emails, comouter is retarted, I willgive Monica the disk to scan, I can send one at a time.
Debbie - Go to http://www.photobucket.com and get a free account. You can then load all the pictures on there and just send everyone the links to the pictures.
If you have trouble, send them to me and I will post them and send you the links to distribute.
Bless the sweet boy. No dog should be jailed and locked up for that long like that.
I can just see you and Monica in my mind by that door crying! Another two "mushes."
A MILLION CHEERS FOR MUSHES EVERY WHERE!! LOVE RULES!!
How we thank you Daddy God that Duke is safe at home, cuddly and warm with kisses and tender love surrounding him. We thank you that he will sleep peacefully, joyfully, safely and securely in his own precious soft cuddly bed tonight. Daddy God, we ask this for Vivi too. Please bring your beautiful little girl in to the safety and love and warmth of home. She is so precious and through her, you have brought all of us together with the mission of reaching out to all your creatures that you bring in our path. Bless Vivi Daddy God. She has become the hero of so many of your creatures that have been saved. She is our love, our joy, our mascot. Bring her in Daddy with your bright and shining light to show the way for her and for your chosen ones. Give her the gift of her warm home and cuddly bed this Christmas too. We need her home Daddy. We dearly need her home. In Jesus's Name we praise you!!
Hey Kathleen the problem is the files are to big to attach, so I have to send them one at a time, aol sucks and when I had all new virus protection put on it messed everything up. I sent you and Mila a photo of Monica and myself with Duke. Let me know if it came thru. I have more I can send 1 at a time, be patient my friend they are coming slowely but surely and you can forward to people since I don;t know all the email addy's.
Thanks, it has been a great day, please forward to Betty and Michael the photos if you have their email addy
Their prayers did wonders for him, Thank you.
WONDERFUL NEWS OF DUKE BEING FREED!!!
YAY!!!!
One more miracle....VIVI will be found one day then we the VIVI teams, footsoldiers, all who works so hard for the last 2 years trying to find Vivi and all the lost animals.
You did a GREAT JOBS!!! Wonderful jobs that you did to set Duke freed and you did promised and you kept that words of promised! God Bless you all!!
Love you all!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL! :-)
All the way from Florida........I have been following this story. What a happy ending it has been a long road for Duke and his family.
I want to wish them all the happiest holidays and it will be the best New Yeart ever for them.
DEBBIE - I have forwarded the two pics so far to Betty and Michael (only have the e-mail for Betty, but I know she will share with Michael). What a beautiful and thankful prayer too I must say. And yes, Daddy God, we would love to see this sweet little hero Vivi home for Christmas warm and in her sweet bed like Duke. Heavenly Father, this is our Christmas wish we desire so much with our "mushy" hearts. I want to thank you for hearing and bringing our Vivi home, as I have faith this will occur when the time is right in Your eyes.
Also Debbie, thank you SO MUCH for being there with Denise and Duke on this wonderful occasion and getting pictures for the rest of us. I am going to go ahead and put these in Photobucket, and let me know when all the pics are in and I will post the links for all these others to see also. Duke is so beautiful - those eyes of his are bewitching!
Debbie, Monica I bet seeing Duke finally going home with his family was fantastic! I can't wait to see the pictures of this beautiful boy home where he belongs. No dog should have had to be kept from his family this long because of a neighbor from you know where. All our letters, e-mails and speaking up for Duke worked! Thank you also to the judge who did the right thing after so long. And to our NYC Weenie Crew, you are the best.
I wish Duke and his family the best Christmas ever with lots of love and only great things from now on.
SUSAN - I'll post the links to Photobucket so all can see that big fine fella with his two best friends, Debbie and Monica.
Here are the links:
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x132/kstephen_photo/thoseeyes.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x132/kstephen_photo/debbiedukemonica.jpg
Hope this works. I have not done it in a while and I am rusty. If not, I'll try it again.
It worked great. What a beautiful boy. You can see him smile.
Kathleen, the pictures are wonderful, especially seeing two of the NYC gals with him. Duke is such a cutie I wish I could kiss him on that adorable nose. Knowing he is back home safe, warm and loved is a great late Chanukah gift. Now if only Vivi would come and meet our Weenie Crew.
Thank God Duke's story has a wonderful, happy ending.
Now we need our little girl's story to end happily. Why does it take 2 months to go through channels to view video from a toll booth? Sounds like the keeper of the video isn't an animal person and doesn't care about a dog, or enough pressure has been used to get the video. Would it help if all of us wrote and asked for a transcript of the video to become available? All of us wrote letters to help Duke? Why not Vivi?
I can't help thinking of how dreadful it must be for her to struggle each day to live. She doesn't deserve us not continuing to try to find her. I'm sure all of us who've been on this blog from the beginning will help in any way we can to get information about the toll booth video. If anyone will please let us know what we all need to do, we'd do it. My personal opinion is that it was Vivi that was seen on Sept. 25. Verification with a review of the video should be enough to get Team Vivi out to that area again.
Please let us know if we all can help.
Viva la Vivi! Hi Rosa.
Barbara P in MI
Hi Everybody!!
I should have been here sooner, but I have been enjoying life back with DUKE!!! GOD IT FEELS SOOOOO GOOD!! Thank you soooo much everybody. I cant really stress enough how thankful I am to everybody. I truly couldnt have done it without you. TRULY!! To the weenie queens. Thank you thank you thank you!! You guys have visitation anytime your ready he is here waiting for you.
He fits right in as if he never left. Thank you again!!
Denise and Duke
Denise,
I'm so happy for you and especially Duke! I'm so glad he "fits right in", he's been gone such a long time..Hugs and kisses to him from California..I'm so very thankful he's been freed...I know he'll be missed by some at the shelter where he stayed for so very long. Love that doggie! xoxo MaryL/rooby
Kathleen Thank You for putting the photos up, Darlene now has the disk and I'll have her download when she gets a chance to send out. My favorite is of him sitting.
Poor Duke was saying to me and Monica :Will you 2 get off me, you're choking me, leave me alone:
Denise I am thrilled he is fitting right in again and you better believe we will be coming for a visit.
FROM KATHY (CO) - PLEASE HELP THE HORSES**********
Please continue calling and faxing - our horses need your voices.
On December 5, Senator Larry Craig made a public declaration of his intent to derail any attempt to bring S 311 to the Floor for a vote. This Senator is a disgrace to our country and to the principles that our nation was founded upon. Because of Senator Craig and a few of his colleagues, American horses will continue to be brutally slaughtered. For that reason, we are joining forces with other anti slaughter groups and concentrating our efforts on contacting the Senate Leadership.
Daryl has composed a letter to Senator Craig in rebutal to his statement. He has also prepared letters and delivered them to the Senate Leadership. We must back him up with telephone calls.
Let’s make our voices heard in the Halls of Congress. Make your feelings POLITELY known to Senate Leadership...we must demand that our horses are afforded due process. Please contact the Senator Leadership and request that S 311 is immediately brought to the floor for a vote or to support any legislation that contains language to end horse slaughter for human consumption and the transportation of horses for human consumption.
Senate Majority Leader:
Harry Reid ph: 202-2224-3542 fax: 202-224-7327
Senate Minority Leader:
Mitch McConnell ph: 202-224-2541 fax: 202-224-2499
Senate President Pro Tempore
Robert S. Byrd ph: 202 224-3954 fax: 202-228-0002
Assistant Majority Leader
Dick Durbin ph: 202-224-2152 fax: 2-2-228-0400
Assistant Minority Leader
Trent Lott ph 202-224-6253 fax: 202-224-2262
Remember…..WE ARE BARBARO’S VOICE……..let it be heard!
ATTENTION:
To the ANONYMOUS blogger who posted this comment below on DEC 7th.....
Your words "FOLLOW THE MONEY" have been a little haunting to me and if you are out there and are reading the blog.. I ask that if YOU know anything that could result in locating Vivi or know for sure she is safe then PLEASE help the rest of us find the same Closure you seem to show in your matter of fact post. Consider the rest of us who have been here for almost 2 yrs worried sick for Vivi. I ask that you find a way to post or share some kind of credible info that you might have. At this point just knowing Vivi is safe with someone would be a MIRACLE!.
Thanks Rosa, as always Viva La Vivi!
Posted by Anonymous | December 7, 2007 20:59 You're never going to hear about alleged sightings. Follow the money. Whomever took her out of state for hiding needs to bring her back.
Denise, please keep us posted on Duke and how this big boy is doing. We all love him so much (most of us from afar) and now require a "huge dose" of Duke News!!!!!
Merry Christmas!!